My Struggle Against Spiritual Forms of Wickedness in Heavenly Places
by Stephen Yulish PhD
As I sat in my home in beautiful Flagstaff in 1995, I was watching the popular
TV series The X-Files and I got a bolt of inspiration for an idea that would
carry me to the present and manifest itself in two novels and scores of
articles. The interesting thing is that I was a relatively new Believer. I had
not been going to church very long nor did I really know the Bible all that
well. Somehow or somewhere along the way, and I have long since forgotten
exactly where, I had read about the concept of the rapture (Gr.harpazo), the
catching away of the Church to be with Jesus in the air before the great
tribulation begins. The Apostle Paul said that it would happen at the blowing
of the last trumpet (1Corinthians 15:52). I got the idea that this last
trumpet was actually the rams horn that Jews blow every New Year on Rosh
Hashanah. The catching away of the church would happen at the blowing of the
shofar on some Rosh Hashanah. I was combining my Jewish upbringing (like Paul)
with my new found Christian eschatological concepts.
I have always felt more comfortable with my Jewish holidays and customs than I
have with my new found Christian traditions, i.e. holidays like Christmas and
Easter with their pagan roots.
I wrote a spec treatment for The X-Files TV show entitled The Catching Away
where I had Scully and Mulder go to a synagogue on October 1, Rosh Hashanah,
where the shofar blows and some people (hey, they were all Jews) disappear.
When they go outside there are hundreds of people who have suddenly
disappeared and there are UFOs all over the sky.
In my cover letter to Chris Carter, the Executive Producer of The X-Files, on
May 30, 1995, I explained that I had a terrific story line for him, a story
line about a great end time deception. I had told him that those left behind
in the sudden mass disappearance would rather believe that those who have
disappeared have been abducted by UFOs rather than having been raptured to be
with Jesus in the air. Mulder picks up a Bible to check it out when Scully
tells him what really is happening and it gets hot and he drops it, He spots
an UFO hovering out the window and cancer man is standing there.
I had told Mr. Carter that the truth was out there but it was stranger than
even he believed. I had told him that even UFO researchers like Jacques Vallee
and Dr.Alan Hynek had pointed out the paranormal attributes of UFO phenomena
and how they could be interdimensional rather than extraterrestrial. I had
told him that my interests in UFOs went back over thirty years to NICAP and
APRO. I told him that I had a PHD in history and knowledge of bible prophecy
and eschatology (actually, only a minimum understanding as I said earlier).
Who better, I had told Chris Carter, than me to put this whole thing together
and who better to bring it to the screen than The X-Files. That pitch was what
we Jews call chutzpah-nerve.
On September 7, 1995, I received a letter from Kitty Brophy, Assistant to
Executive Producer, Chris Carter, on The X-Files stationary.
She wrote:
Dear Dr.Yulish:
Thank you for submitting your spec treatment, The Catching Away to the
X-Files for consideration. WE HAVE REVIEWED IT AND REGRET TO SAY THAT WE ARE
UNABLE TO USE IT. WE APPRECIATE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET ACQUAINTED WITH YOUR
WRITING AND WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK IN YOUR FUTURE EFFORTS (Emphasis mine).
Actually, I was not surprised by this response because of the religious nature
of my spec treatment but at least they said that they had read it and seemed
to be able to at least tolerate my newfound religiosity. But they never
returned the material.
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